Dundee Jute and Progress of a Dundee Jute Mill | Archive Film Showing

Name: Dundee Jute and Progress of a Dundee Jute Mill | Archive Film Showing
Start: 2026-03-12T12:00:00+00:00
Location: Steps Theatre

Schedule

Thu, 12 Mar, 2026 at 12:00 pm

UTC+00:00

Location

Steps Theatre | Dundee, SC

Friends of Dundee City Archives present, DUNDEE JUTE (1948) and PROGRESS OF A DUNDEE JUTE MILL (1950):
A rare opportunity to see two 15-minute silent black and white films made by JRL Halley— 'Dundee Jute' (1948) and 'Progress of a Dundee Jute Mill' (1950), the former film being the prize-winner at the Scottish Amateur Film Festival in 1949.
James Roy Linds Halley (1900-91), of Halley & Sons, Wallace Craigie Works, used a hand-held clockwork 16mm camera to record many yards of film and then painstakingly edited the reels and spliced them by hand in an era which gave us the term 'cutting room floor'
The first film demonstrated how jute was manufactured in Wallace Craigie Works and followed the processes of batching, carding, spinning, weaving, up to the finished product.
The second film, two years later, charted the historical development of William Halley & Sons Limited, jute manufacturers, and included an example shot of a beam engine in William Webster’s of Arbroath which was still running in 1950.
Iain Flett of the Friends of Dundee City Archives will introduce these films and provide a running commentary.
Entry is free but places should be booked via Eventbrite or by calling (01382 431500).